poor neglected blogger

so i'll make my peace offering with some socks! these are my first pair of socks for my c-mas gift stash. i have decided to make some knits for gifts, and made these

i love them so much, i really want to keep them for myself....but they got tagged for rob's mom.....so i showed him what i made for her, and he says "well....mom's birthday is next week, why don't we give her these???"

....so my c-mas stash is empty again! but she really loved her homemade socks...so it was totally worth it!!!!

well i'm off to make some more socks....i'm dabbelling in toe up socks and making two socks at the same time! oh what fun!!!

sock it to me!!!!

if i make something for one, i have to make something for all....or at least so it seems.

so for my sister b-day i made her a pair of socks from zauberball, and since Rob's oldest loved the colorway so much....I made her a pair of ankle socks

so while these were being knit up, i tried my hand at hand dying yarn. and made these for my son who was anxiously awaiting something from the colorful yarn that he had spotted drying.

so i made these.....

and when Rob's middle daughter saw the boys "rainbow socks" (as he likes to call them) she wanted a pair too. so to prevent confusion i knit her up a pair from another "rainbow" type colorway

and then Rob's youngest had to have a pair too.....she wanted a black pair, but since I would find that too painful to knit.....she got these

so in a little over a month i got 4 pairs ready for the kids....plus during all this i made a pair for my dad for father's day.....and a shawl.

all in all....my sock knitting is improving....now to just find the time to knit myself a pair

my cladonia is complete

yesterday was the big day! i wore my new shawl for the first time

here is the cladonia all finished!!!

i had a capped sleeved with it, and the madeline tosh was so soft on my arms. a true dream to knit with and to wear. really i think my whole stash should be of madeline tosh light!!!!

since this knit up so quick, i am going to start another shawl by the same designer....so stayed tuned!!!!

enjoy the sunshine today!!!!

thanks for stopping by

through the loops

designer kristen kapur sure outdid herself on her shawl cladonia!!!

the through the loops group on ravelry has a summer knit along. each person is knitting the shawl of their choice and the cladonia was mine.

so i had a pattern, now for yarn....well since my favorite shawl is made out of madeline tosh light, and the pattern calls for the tosh light....i dig out my skein of nostalgia. when i bought this yarn i was really on the fence for the color. i coudn't decide if i loved it or hated it. but when i wound it up and began to knit, i knew it was a good choice! i am in love!!!!!

the grey was so prominent when it was in a skein, but now it gives such a beautiful tonal change...almost done my increases and then the lace work begins!!!!

hope all you canadians had a wonderful canada day, and to our friends down south....enjoy your fourth of july!!! i really wish i was in nyc this weekend to celebrate! :(

rockefellar anyone?

this will always be known to me as my rockefellar shawl, because the first time i wore it was to dinner in front of the statue at rockefellar. In the summer the skating rink turns into an outdoor restaurant/bar. do i have a picture of me wearing the shawl in nyc you ask???....well no! because there seems to only be a hand full of pictures of me in nyc.

so here it is on my front steps. and yes that is sunshine you see. something else that is hard to come by these days.

this beauty was initially going to be all made from madeline tosh lite (which i bought on our last trip to nyc @ purl soho), but when i ran out, i had to add in some fibra natura yummy! which sounds simple right? not in my life..... what a time i had finding something that would make me equally as happy with the shawl as i would have been with my initial plan.

my next step was to add more lace, which was done to help make the change in yarn/color/and texture blend nice with the dreamy madeline tosh. but when i went to add the beautiful border.....the varigation made it look funny.....so i swapped it out for a ruffled border.

not what i planned, but i love it just the same.

so in the end, i did get to wear it to nyc!

and it will be a lovely piece this summer on those cool nights

(that is if the weather improved enough that we can actually put the winter clothing away)

thanks for stopping by, hope you all have a lovely week and get out and enjoy this little bit of sunshine we are fortunate enough to be getting today!!!!

sylvi is almost done

the finishing touches are about to go on sylvi! it was a long and winding road, but she is blocking right now. Once she is all dry I will attach the petals and be done!

the only room i was able to have large enough free floor space, that we wouldn't have to step over her all the time, is in the living room (which is under construction). hopefully once she is dry i can get some better pictures of the cables up the back.

life has been busy with all the renovations and trying to get sylvi finished up. next on the list of things to knit, socks for my dad for father's day and rob's sweater.

have a great weekend

what's new????

things have been even more crazy than usual around here. renovations have been in full swing, and luckily we can slightly see the light at the end of the tunnel.....it's fait, but it's there.

as for my knitting, well i still can't put the needles down. and i hope to share some of the things that i have been working on. haven't finished a whole lot as i have a few larger projects on the go.....but i have two shawls to share (once i take some pics).

but first, let me introduce you to "sylvi"

after many many attempts, i finally have 2 sleeves and 2 fronts to put together. elizabeth had sewn hers together to make it look more like the jacket that it will be someday.....so i joined along....and i am so glad that i did, cause it made my sylvi mojo soar!!!!!

check it out!!!

here is the back

off to knit up some more of the back!

thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for my first 2 attempts at shawls.

@ 50%

a girl at work asked me to make her slippers.....

so the first one is done, and much like mittens and socks....the motivation is just not there to get at the second one. i really must learn to knit stuff two at a time to help curb this habit i have or rushing through the first and struggling for to tackle the 2nd

thanks for stopping by.....i'll have some more works in progress to share soon!!!

sylvi update

well i have the sleeves done. my first attempt landed me sleeves that were too long, so i frogged them back to the increase and made them about an inch shorter for my short little arms. i'm much happier with the end result of the arms!!!!

while waiting for everyone to finish up the arms i started on the front....{{blush}}

well that ended in disaster, because my gauge is all wrong and it was wwwaaaaayyyyy to short. luckily elizabeth volunteered to rip it out for me, she says it is punishment for getting ahead of the game. so i'm going to get some larger needles and do another swatch before i start the front again.

lesson learned!!!!!!

my sister's birthday

the other day was my sisters birthday, and i gave her this really cool and funky socks. they were made with zauberball yarn....and a lot of work!!!!

it was hard to give them away after so much work, but when my mom called me and told me that my sister put them on right away.....it made it worth it!!!! now my dad is asking for a pair....without the design....and a more manly color. lol

happy 31st birthday jenny

cashmere anyone???

i stumbled upon this lovely dimple hat pattern....made with lovely cashmere

it was published over at purl bee where they have lovely patterns. and i think i have mentioned before how lovely the purl soho store is in nyc.....haven't i??? and ironically enough i worked on and completed most of this hat during our flight to and from nyc. didn't knit much when i was there, only if rob was asleep before me....or taking a nap. (i can't nap in nyc)

gotta love a free pattern....too bad cashmere wasn't free. it's so soft....dreamy really!!!!!

april showers...bring may flowers

visiting purl soho in nyc certainly gave me a lot of inspiration....and a lot of yarn. according to google the average purchase of the store is approx. $55. yeah right!!!! i have no idea how anyone could walk out of there with only $55. worth of yarn. i would have taken the whole store with me if i could.....and i didn't even get to the fabric. :(

my goal when i went in was to buy a few skeins of "different" yarns that i hadn't seen around here. the lovely girl pointed me in the direction of this skein of silken straw. she began to describe to me how once it was worked with and blocked that it would soften

so i ventured into knitting with this lovely lace with the april showers pattern from purl soho's blog (and trust me when i say that the blog is equally as lovely as the web page).

the pattern called for 3 repeats across the scarf, but i was wanting this one to be a little more narrow and longer so i only did 2 (since i only purchased one skein....and i'm regretting that decision) and kept knitting until i ran out. i think there is about 6 inches of it left.....i got my money's worth!!!!!

when it was all finished it was pretty, but it didn't become absolutely beautiful until it was blocked....and let me tell you....this silken straw is gorgeous!!!!!! i want more more more

finished project is 4.5" wide and 68" long

thanks for stopping by, i'm going to have an update on my first sweater soon!!!

and i have a pair of socks to share

look what i started.....

here it is!!!!!

and i'm going to use this.....

and yes i am going with the red....really i couldn't imagine it in any other color....plus i have always wanted a red hooded coat!!!!

hat for rob

nothing makes a better hat than cascade 200 wool!!!! it is what i've been using the past couple of hats.....not having much luck getting the hang of knitting stripes in the round....but by the time i got to the end of this hat i think i got it now.....

do you like the gray and navy? i think it is a nice change from going with my first instinct of black and gray....

fingerless mittens

you may remember this post about my first scarf....the short version to the story is that when i started the scarf....it didn't go so well, so i ended up frogging it and starting over. but i didn't want to have all that work go to waste, so i turned it into a fingerless mitten

well tonight i finished the second to the set....only problem is....i think i will remake the original mitt now to match this one a bit better. should have known better and made it identical to the first. oh well....another project to work on i guess.

regardless, they will keep me warm!!!!

another hat???

yes it's another hat....but with 6 heads to keep warm i have a lot of work to do. this one is for rob's youngest daughter, she requested skulls with bones. there weren't any patterns that i truly loved, so i came up with this one on my own.

it even slouches a bit in the back which i just love!!!!

here it is standing up, i didn't have a model when I took the picture. the yarn is cascade 200 wool and the grey knit up so nice!!!! might have to knit myself a little something grey so i get to use it again.

my next project is to give another pair of socks a try with the zauberball starke 6 yarn in the pink and lime green....these will be for me!!!

hope you all had a great weekend! we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel on our upstairs renovations (ps, i hate crackfill dust!!!). only problem is now i have the itch to do more parts of the house. one room at a time i guess.

thanks for stopping by, and have a great night

penguin hat

well my boy sure loves his penguin hat. he was happy to finally get it on and model it for me. the nose was the trickiest part for me, but in the end it turned out ok. the stripped ear flaps are my favorite.....and i even gave pompoms a try

as detailed in a previous post, this hat was made from cascade 200 wool and heathers!

i still have yet to block it and let him wear it, but it will be done this weekend for sure so monday morning he can wear it to school.

next a hat for one of rob's girls, it will again be made from cascade 220 wool. this one will have skulls on it, which was a lot of fun to design.....must get at it.

have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by

more hats????

first i would like to welcome my first follower!!!! glad you came over chantal!!!!

totally miss you mon amie, we have to chat soon!

i have to confess, i love making hats. they are quick, and fun! especially with yarn from noro. it is my favorite for making hats. this hat began with the cash iroha yarn (the purple), but i wasn't going to have enough to complete the hat in the robin's egg blue hat pattern from ravelry......so i added the transitions with a little more of cash yarn just because i loved it so much.

not only is the seed stitch band on this hat my favorite, but so is the button! i love the contrast it gives with the tourquois. we'll see how long it last since it is ceramic....maybe i should have bought a back up.

my next hat adventure is knitting a hat for my ds, he loooooves penguins....so it is going to be a penguin hat! this will be my first attempt at knitting without a pattern. a little scary, but it was fun coming up with it on my own. this hat will be made of cascade yarns, the cascade 220 wool and heathers in black, white, and orange. wish me luck, i've already frogged it once courtesy of the future owner of this hat. almost fell over when he had ripped it off the needles during a little game of hide mommy's yarn.....luckily i was able to save the orange band, but the rest had to go!

fair isle fun

just weeks after starting to knit....i saw this hat done at a lys that is hosting a class....but once again the "i can do that" set in...so i downloaded the free pattern for selbu modern from ravelry and bought the yarn. 3 days later....i had a hat and now know how to knit fair isle. it was a little tricky at first, but with some help from youtube i think i got the technique down.

this was my first hat, first fair isle and first time using round needles.

for this hat i used berocco ultra alpaca in the cream and purple.....and what's a hat without mittens??? well they are in the works. i am using a patons pattern for the mittens and i'm attempted to adapt it into the pattern from the selbu modern hat. wish me luck, i'm confused already!! haha

then i fell in love with this silk yarn from noro, so when i found this pattern on ravelry i knew it would be perfect for this hat!!! so 2 days later i had another hat, which was way to big for even my big head. so i took out the band and tried to redo it, but it is still to big. wore the hat sliding and even time we would hit a bump it would slide down over my eyes. maybe this will be a fashion hat from now on.

here's my 2nd hat, the faux fair isle

the crown of the hat was suppose to decrease longer so it wouldn't be a bunch crown, but i was getting low on my yarn so i had to speed it up a bit. i do like how it turned out though.

my next noro yarn usage is going to be for this lovely hat.....i'm going to use a purple for the band and a lovely pink variegated yarn for the rest....and i see a big brown button on the side to add some pazaaz.

what a weekend......

this weekend I had a plan....and for once, it worked out

my goal was to finish this scarf that i started back in november. it has been a project that i just worked on here and there when my other projects were getting monotonous....seriously though....knitting a scarf is the most monotonous of all i think. (worse than dishcloths)

there is a little story to this scarf, i had seen one similar to this and fell in love. and since i was starting to knit, i thought to myself "i can do that"....so i did. but not without a lot of frustration. you see, i had no idea how to get a seed stitch to work...so after about 5 failed attempts i think i finally got it!

rob calls this my dr. seuss scarf. but what is a scarf without a hat. here i was trying to get some little projects cleaned up so that i can start my first scarf, and i decide that my dr. seuss scarf needs a hat. so voila! there you have it! slouchy hats are my new fav...and I can't wait to get some wear out of both of these during the next two months of freezing cold temperatures.

i used the briggs & little home spun yarn and no pattern for the scarf. the hat is a slight modification to the striped slouchy scarf that i found on ravelry....don't you just love free patterns!!!!!

mitts for my boys

i just love these mitts. but i love how much the guys love my knitty goodness even more. it makes me happy that they love the things i have been making and that they each have a wish list. now to just sleep less and knit faster to keep up with their demands.

these mitts were made with cascade 220 and fleece artist mohair (combining these two yarns....a good choice!!!!), and i just used the basic briggs & little mitten pattern for both. Rob's were made with a 4mm needle and the little guys were made with a 3.25mm.

when i initially made the first pair, my little man saw them and tried them on (10 sizes to big of course) he said "oh these are cosy" and he immediately requested a pair for himself. now the two men in my life each have a pair to keep them nice and toasty warm.

i've been eyeballing the burgundy mohair by fleece artist with a plan to mix it with the pink cascade to give the same mitt for us girls!!!! but i have some other stuff in the work first.

hope you had a great weekend, thanks for stopping by

so how did it all begin???

every time i would go to my nan's house she always had a bag of dish clothes for me to take home. she gave them to me faster than i could use them, but every time she would ask if i needed some i would take them and hoard them away. (she loved that i did this)

she had shown me a few times how to make my own, but all that work just didn't seem to fit. so i continued to hoard hers. well this fall, one night when i was missing her terribly, i went into my dish cloth drawer and my stash was deminishing rapidly. so i dug out some old supplies from my nan and began to attempt a dish cloth from memory.

well this is what I got

now you all know why i kept a stash.

so my next step was to headed over to a local yarn shop, get some needles and more yarn and continued to attempt more dish clothes this time with a pattern that i had no idea how to read. (luckily i got a quick tutorial)

well that got boring pretty quick, so back i went to the yarn shop and had her show me how to make mittens.

and this is what i go.....(and yes the pictures does them justice)

so another failed attempt, but much better than i expected. have to laugh looking at this first mitten with the dropped stitches, knitting when i should have pearled and pearling when i should have knit. but i made it!

that was the first of november 2010...the beginning of the end.

since then i have made more mittens (i'll be sharing those later), even attempted my first pair of socks for my man for c-mas. (they were a hit)

now to just learn to knit as fast as i can buy.

and for you ladies who know my scrappy purchasing habits....yes i am just as addicted!!!

All the best to everyone in 2011